Parishioner Feature ⎸ Meet Willie Sumner

When an Italian foreign exchange student named Fabio showed up in Willie Sumner’s Theater Arts class at New Bern High school, Willie could little have guessed the major life change this ‘chance’ meeting would bring. That very day, Fabio’s host family had dropped out, leaving him with nowhere to go. Willie graciously offered to host him.

Fabio was a practicing Catholic, so Willie, a Baptist, had to bring him to Mass every week. By the end of the exchange year, Willie had irrevocably fallen in love with the Catholic faith and joined RCIA. Willie and Fabio still keep in touch to this day.

'I see the hand of Providence working through something so simple. As we get older, we look back and we see God’s hand in ways we never realized at the time. I could never have planned this, so somebody’s hand bigger than mine must be in it.’

Willie and his wife, Deanna

A lifelong native of Eastern North Carolina, Willie graduated from ECU in 1984 with a degree in Theater Arts, and has since been an actor, director and teacher, participating in many local community musicals. This talent for music translated to serving the St. Paul community when Bill Fraser, the former choir director, asked Willie to step in. There are four separate choirs at St. Paul, each with their own style, mission, and leader. Willie’s service as Director of the Contemporary Choir for the 5 p.m. Saturday Mass, has led to personal, professional, and spiritual growth.

Willie met his wife Deanna in 1997 at her job interview at New Bern High School. Deanna was Catholic and Willie needed a sponsor, and their encounters every day at work were a perfect fit for Willie’s journey into Catholicism. Faith has been the cornerstone of their relationship. ‘God speaks to us at a moment when we need to hear it. If we’re not listening, sometimes He knocks us in our head and yells at us. I heard His voice at a very important moment in my life.’

After retiring from teaching after 29 ½ years at New Bern High, Willie turned to prayer. ‘I told God in prayer one day, “I’m retired, and I think I’m called to grow in knowledge of music. Show me what that means,” and three days later he got a call to teach music at Saint Paul Catholic School. This was not my idea!’

He began at St. Paul as a substitute and is entering his third year of teaching music full time. Working at the school has kept him centered and reminds him to continue striving daily to live the life of the Gospel. ‘It makes me focus every day on my prayer life and on being the kind of person that I want other people to be in the world. If we want the world to be a better place, we have to start with ourselves.’ It also keeps him connected to the St. Paul community, which he says is ‘too big to know everybody, but is a community where you can become close to anybody.’

Willie reads about the saint of the day every morning and is hard pressed to choose his favorite, but St. Francis stands out because of his emphasis on peace and being the change in the world. ‘St. Francis was not the most saintly man in the world when he was younger, and that is relatable. He makes me ask, what can you bring to a situation to make it better, more Christ-like? He prayed, ‘make me a channel of your peace,’ and he lived that prayer every day.’